Sermon for the Ascension of our Lord – May 17, 2026

by Jeffrey Spencer | May 17, 2026 | Sermons | 0 comments

CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 17

Sermon for the Ascension of our Lord – May 17, 2026

Acts 1-11, Luke 24:44-53

Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our ascended Lord Jesus Christ.

On April 1^st, I watched live on my computer as the Artemis II rocket was launched. Up, up, up it went. There were people on the ground near the Kennedy Space Center in Florida who were watching, and every once in awhile the cameras would show them craning their necks, shielding their eyes from the sun, watching as that rocket got smaller and smaller and smaller, until it disappeared into the upper atmosphere.

After the launch, I followed the progress of the mission through an app on my phone. There was a running ticker showing how many miles away from Earth the Artemis II capsule was. It went further and further and further away – farther than any human being has ever traveled in the history of humanity! At their furthest, they were 252,756 miles from Earth. On an evening walk with my wife, I looked up at the moon and mentioned to her how crazy it was that human beings had recently been on the back side of that glowing orb out there in space. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying to think about. I can’t imagine being an astronaut hurtling through space like that, watching Earth get further and further away, your home planet getting smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror, while space got darker and darker and colder and colder. I know it was awe-inspiring for them, because they have said as much. But it had to be terrifying too.

I couldn’t help but think about the Artemis mission as I’ve been studying our scripture readings for this Sunday as we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord – the capstone of the Easter season. The story of Jesus going up, up, up into the heavens is told in both our Acts reading and our reading from the gospel of Luke. St. Luke, who wrote both Acts and his gospel, describes the disciples as watching Jesus as he went up into the sky, higher and higher and higher, further and further away from them. The disciples were gazing up into heaven until he disappeared from their sight. You can picture them like those people watching the Artemis launch in Florida, craning their necks and shielding their eyes from the sun, watching him until they couldn’t see him anymore.

In the gospel account of the Ascension, it says that after Jesus was no longer in sight, the disciples worshiped him. It says they were filled with great joy. It says they were continually in the temple blessing God. This seems, on the face of it, to be a strange reaction. Jesus is gone! Hooray! He just blasted off into the heavens, let’s celebrate! He’s out of here, let’s go thank God!

It seems like a strange reaction, but it is actually an entirely appropriate one, and when we understand why the disciples were celebrating, why they were full of great joy, why they were continually in the temple blessing God, we can begin to see why the Ascension of our Lord is such Good News for us here today too.

One of the reasons the disciples were filled with great joy was that Jesus had opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Now they understood how what we call the Old Testament writings pointed to him. Jesus was the offspring of Eve who crushed the head of the serpent, defeating sin. Jesus was the fulfillment of the promise given to Abraham that through his descendants all the families of the earth would be blessed. Jesus was the Lamb of God in Exodus who delivers people from death. Jesus was the suffering servant in Isaiah, by whose wounds we are healed. Now they understood that Jesus’ death on the cross was not an accident or a failure, but God’s means of salvation. The Messiah was indeed to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day. It was all part of God’s endgame from the beginning. Now they understood this, and so Jesus’ leaving was not a “so long, farewell, I’m outta here.” His Ascension was instead his triumphant enthronement at the right hand of God after his mission was complete.

In addition to opening their minds to understand the scriptures, Jesus also promised to clothe them with power from on high. Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit they would continue to deepen their understanding of the scriptures. Through the Spirit they would be empowered for their own mission, which was just beginning – their mission of proclaiming repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name to all nations. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ ministry would continue. The Ascension didn’t mean Jesus’ ministry was over – it meant it was just getting started!

As Jesus left them, as his risen body began to ascend, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. This was the posture the priests in the temple used to put God’s blessing on the people at the end of worship. It is the posture priests and pastors continue to use to bless God’s people, to put his word, his mercy, his love, his blessing on them. Jesus lifted up his hands in blessing. His hands, still bearing the wounds of his great sacrifice for them, were over them, covering them, shielding them, assuring them, blessing them. These disciples knew that these hands would remain over them, and so they could go back to their daily lives in great joy. They could even go back to Jerusalem, where so much ugliness had happened, without fear. The Ascension meant that God’s blessing was upon them.

This is all drawn from the gospel account of the Ascension, but perhaps the most meaningful detail of all is found in the account we have in Acts. There Luke tells us that Jesus was taken up into a cloud. It is easy for us in the Pacific Northwest to dismiss this as par for the course. We’re used to clouds, right? But to the disciples this was important. To students of the Bible in all times and places, this is a crucial detail. You see, throughout the Bible a cloud serves as a symbol of God’s presence. In the book of Exodus, we read that as the people of Israel traveled through the wilderness, the Lord God went ahead of them in pillar of cloud. When Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the commandments from God, the mountain was covered by a cloud, from which God spoke.  A cloud hovered over the tabernacle and over the ark of the covenant, and when it did it was described as the glory of God. Drawing on all this, there are psalms which describe God’s presence taking the form of a cloud. When Jesus was transfigured, God appeared in a cloud. And so, when Jesus ascended and a cloud took him out of their sight, it meant something. Luke wasn’t just recording the weather that day. It meant something. Jesus was being taken bodily into God’s presence, and if Jesus has been taken bodily into God’s presence, now he is capable of being everywhere!

This is a point Martin Luther made about preaching on the Ascension. Luther said: What good will it do you if you merely preach that he ascended up to heaven and sits there with folded hands? … For this purpose did he ascend up…that he might be down here, that he might fill all things and be everywhere present; which he could not do had he remained on earth.”

Today we have external computer data storage we call “the cloud,” which is capable of keeping all our files so we can access them from anywhere, right? That isn’t unlike what the cloud in Acts represents! This is essentially what Luther is saying about the Ascension! By being taken up into the cloud, Jesus is now everywhere present, accessible from anywhere.

Everything that made the Ascension Good News for the disciples makes it Good News for us too.

Jesus is the key to understanding the scriptures, and it is there that we find him. It is all about him. He opens our minds to understand the scriptures. This doesn’t mean our baptism magically confers immediate perfect knowledge about every verse. Those of you who have been in my Revelation class know that there are still passages that make me scratch my head. We need ongoing Bible study! But Jesus has given us a key to unlock the scriptures in that we are to go to every page looking for him! He has promised that we will find him there, and we do! And so Jesus is not just up in the heavens, he is found in his Word.

Jesus continues to clothe his church with power through the Holy Spirit. To be sure, it might not look like worldly power, but we have the power to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus’ name. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to continue Jesus’ ministry. And so, Jesus is not just up in the heavens, he is found in his church, where his hands are lifted over us in blessing.

Because Jesus ascended up into a cloud, he is down here too. He is everywhere present in a way that wasn’t possible had he remained on earth. There is nowhere we can go where he is not present. As it says in my favorite psalm, “If I ascend to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the grave, you are there also.” (Psalm 139:8)

Victor Glover ascended higher up into the heavens than any human being ever has. He was the pilot on the Artemis II mission. Glover has been very open about his Christian faith. In fact, he mentioned in one interview that he took a Bible with him on the Artemis II mission. That capsule was roughly the size of two minivans and had to house four people for 10 days, along with all the equipment for their research. You can bet that every square inch had to serve a purpose for the mission. But as a disciple of Jesus, Glover was part of a bigger mission. As he traveled farther away from Earth than any other human being in the history of humankind, even there Christ was with him. As he hurtled through the deepest darkness and the coldest reaches of space, even there Christ was present. Christ was with him through his Word, in that Bible he brought. And when Glover returned to Earth, Christ’s mission and ministry continued through his witness. As Glover told reporters from all across the globe: “We need Jesus, whether on Earth or circling the moon.”

The Ascension of our Lord means that Christ is with you too. He is everywhere present, everywhere accessible. He is with you even in the darkest, coldest moments of your life. He can be found in his Word. He can be found in his church. His hands are lifted over you in blessing – his blessing of forgiveness, his blessing of divine mercy and love. By his Holy Spirt he continues to empower our mission, which is to bear witness to everyone on this beautiful planet that we all need Jesus, and that because of his Ascension, he everywhere present, available to all.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer

Oak Harbor Lutheran Church

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2026

by Jeffrey Spencer | May 13, 2026 | Sermons | 0 comments

CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 10

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 10, 2026

John 14:15-21

Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Although we are still in the Easter season, our gospel readings for both last Sunday and this Sunday take place before the resurrection. We might think of them as flashback scenes. Jesus is preparing his disciples for all that is to come. He is telling them what will happen and what to expect in the days ahead. He is laying the groundwork for what his church will look like after his death and resurrection.

Jesus is also seeking to calm the hearts of the disciples, which, as we heard last week, had become troubled. Jesus had told them that he would be leaving them soon, and this news caused quite a stir. The disciples became nervous. They became anxious and afraid. And so, as we heard last week, Jesus said to them, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.”

Today we pick up right where we left off last week. Jesus continued to speak to the disciples, preparing them for what was to come. He had a lot more to say to them. In fact, Jesus goes on for four entire chapters with his farewell address to the disciples!

In the snippet we hear from this much longer farewell address, Jesus again speaks to the disciples’ troubled hearts. He addresses the fear they have of being left alone. He addresses the grief already creeping into their hearts at the prospect of his absence from them. And in doing so Jesus uses a word that is the same in both English and Greek. He uses the word orphanos, orphan.

An orphan, strictly speaking, is a child who has lost both mother and father, but Jesus uses the word more broadly here. He uses it to refer to the disciples’ fear of being cut off from him, cut off from this profound source of love in their lives – as orphans are. Jesus uses the word “orphan” to describe their fear of his departure from them leaving an aching absence in their lives, the absence of the one who gave them life.

I think there are many people here today who know what this is like. I think there are many people here today who understand why Jesus uses the word “orphan.”

Today is Mother’s Day. This is a secular holiday. It is not on the liturgical calendar. But that said, it is a holiday which Christians can certainly get on board with. The church should do more to lift up the vocation of motherhood, which is way undervalued in our culture today. One of the commandments given to us by God is to honor mothers, and while we should do this every day, while it should be a lifestyle and a worldview more than just a one-off event, it is a good thing to have a special day set aside to celebrate and honor mothers with joy.

But that said, I know that this is an emotionally fraught day for many people. It can be a painful day, for a variety of reasons. One of those reasons is that many of us don’t have our moms around anymore. And so, this day is at least in part a reminder that we have lost a profound source of love in our lives. It is a reminder of an aching absence in our lives that never completely goes away.

My son’s wedding this past December was an emotional day for me. I was choking back tears most of the day, which will surprise almost none of you. I thought I was out of the woods after the ceremony was over, but at one point during the reception I was visiting with my sister-in-law. She was talking about what a wonderful time it was, what a beautiful wedding it was, about how great Luke looked in his Air Force uniform and how great he and Bekah are together. And then she looked at me with a sweet, loving, wistful smile and, with the best of intentions, said, “Don’t you wish your mom could have been here?”

There it was. There was that aching absence.

I know there are a lot of you who know exactly what I’m talking about. I have heard your voices catch when talking about a loved one who is gone. I’ve seen your tears.

This was the experience Jesus was putting his finger on when he used the word “orphan.” This is what the disciples were afraid of. They were afraid that Jesus wouldn’t be there with them anymore. They were afraid that they were about to lose the one who had given them life. They were afraid they were about to lose the one who loved them more than anyone else they had ever known.

And so, Jesus gave them a promise. “I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus said. Jesus promised that he would not leave them alone. He promised that he would be with them in a different way.

Jesus promised he would send what he called “the Advocate” to be with them forever. This is a vaguely legal term for someone who would defend you and protect you. The opposite of this is the Accuser, the devil, the Enemy who goes on the attack, trying to drag you into despair. Jesus promised to send the Advocate, someone who would forever be in their corner, defending them from these attacks, protecting them from the evil one.

This Advocate, however, also has a soft side, a tender, nurturing side. In fact, some Bibles choose to translate the word “Advocate” as either comforter or helper. So, this Advocate both defends and comforts. You might think of it as a Mama Bear who will hold her cubs close in the warmth of her love and tenderness but is also capable of ripping the face off anyone who messes with them.

This Advocate Jesus is talking about is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit holds us close in God’s love while fiercely defending us from our enemies of sin, death, and the devil. “This is the Spirit of truth,” Jesus said, “whom the world does not know, but you know, because he abides with you and will be in you.” And so, they will never be alone. His Holy Spirit would always be with them.

Jesus also promised the disciples that he himself will come to them. “I will not leave you orphaned,” Jesus says, “I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.”

This refers specifically to the fact that the risen Jesus will literally come to them, and they will literally see him in his resurrection appearances, many of which we have heard about this Easter season, but this also alludes to how Jesus will come to his church after his ascension. The Spirit of truth will make the risen Jesus known to us. That Spirit of truth is his Spirit, which will be with us forever, giving us life with him. Jesus promises that by this Spirit his disciples will know that he is in the Father and that they are in him and that he is in them. That’s a lot to get your head around, I know, but the essence of this is simply that Jesus will not leave his disciples alone. He will come to them. He will be with them. He will not leave them orphaned. He will continue to love them and reveal himself to them.

This all happens in the church, which Martin Luther called our mother. In the Large Catechism, Luther says that the church is “the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word.”

The fear the disciples had still shows up among Christ’s disciples today. We are desperately afraid of losing the people we love, the people who love us. When we do lose them, there is an aching absence which never completely goes away. As much as Mother’s Day can and should be a day of gratitude and celebration and honoring of the mothers among us, some of us are missing the moms in our lives.

But it is good that we are missing them here, in the church, because the church is also our mother. It is here that we encounter the love of the One who gave us life. It is here that we rest in the presence of the Advocate who defends us and comforts us. It is here that the Holy Spirit abides with us. It is here that Jesus is truly present for us, revealing himself to us in Word and Sacrament, healing us and renewing us in his loving grace.

I know that there are worries and griefs and heartaches and longings of all kinds out there in the pews this morning. Our Lord Jesus speaks to every one of them when he uses the word orphanos, or orphan. In a fallen world filled with death and distance and aging and alienation and broken bodies and broken relationships, Jesus comes near to us with his mercy, his forgiveness, and his love, drawing us to himself. In a world full of loneliness, he promises us that we will never be alone. In a fallen world where we lose mothers and all kinds of other people who are dear to us, Jesus promises us that we will never lose him.

By his Spirit, he has called us here to our other mother, the church. And it is here that he speaks to your deepest fears. It is here that he speaks a word of promise that reaches into every aching absence. It is here that he says to you: “I will not leave you orphaned.”

And he hasn’t.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church